Fiber optic cables are well known for connecting optical devices and systems. Some cables carry multiple fibers and have one or more connectors. “Pre-connectorized” cables have their connectors attached during manufacture, while others are terminated and have connectors attached upon installation. Cables known as patch cables, jumper cables, and fan-out cable assemblies are often relatively short and have one or more connectors at each end. In use, each connector will be placed within a port or socket located in a piece of equipment, patch panel, another connector, adaptor, etc.
As fiber optic equipment and networks become more common and more complex, the identification of proper cables, ports, and connectors for setting up and maintaining the systems accordingly becomes more complex. Therefore, indicia such as labels, hang tags, marking, coloration, and striping have been used to help identify specific fibers, cables, and/or connectors. While such indicia have been helpful in providing information to the technician setting up or servicing a system, further improvement could be achieved.
RFID systems can therefore be applied to fiber optic systems to provide information regarding fibers, connectors, components and ports. For example, RFID elements (comprising an antenna and an RFID integrated circuit chip, functioning as a transponder) could be attached to connectors and ports for use in identification. The RFID chip stores information for RF transmission. Typically, these RFID elements are proposed to be passive, rather than active, so they communicate the stored information in response to interrogation by an RF signal received by the RFID element antenna. An RFID reader comprising a transceiver that sends an RF signal to the RFID elements and reads the responsive RF signals communicated by the RFID elements can then interrogate the RFID elements to determine stored information about the cable, connector, component and/or port.
Semi-passive or active RFID elements may be powered by electrical connections, batteries, or the like. It is difficult to use such RFID elements in complicated clectro-optical systems because of the cost and complexity of incorporating such powered systems. Essentially, separate power sources and connections must be provided for the various RFID elements, and batteries may have to be replaced from time to time. Where a system is built using individual, modular, and/or reconfigurable components, use of typical powered RFID systems is not advantageous. Therefore, a need exists for finding ways to use passive RFID elements advantageously in such applications.